The Buzz of Northwest Georgia
-'Spring training' starts for candidates, parties a year out from the primary.
-Family affair: Sibling sisters, husband help power three key local non-profits.
-Three-Dot Buzz: Media, movies and meetings.
-Peaks & Valleys: Untimely farewells: Sharp, Hemphill, Francoeur.
Weather/Stormy night and more possible today:
-Monday: 60% chance of storms, high of 90. low of 66.
-Tuesday: 20% rain chance, high of 93, low of 69.
-Rainfall: Around two-thirds of an inch since noon Sunday at the airport.
-Your extended forecast> Weather
-Local radar > Radar
High school football previews begin: The new Georgia High School Football Daily newsletter begins previews today of the upcoming season. Click Daily.
-What's ahead in downtown Rome
Norman Arey's Sports Roundtable
-Who's on your list of the most thrilling college football players?
-Eight-game home stand opens Monday vs. Greensboro.
-Latest Braves' photo gallery by Mills Fitzner> Gallery
The first hard "stats" from Campaign 2010 came out last week, the contribution and expenditure reports from legislative incumbents, especially those seeking new terms next year. Also must-reading: the reports from the gubernatorial candidates.
Results from poll after poll have been released as well but those won't matter until late next spring. The money is a different story. Someone has to pay for all those "push" e-mails and TV ads and mailers and internal polls, and the candidates with the cash this year will do better next year.
You can expect a busy winter of politicking, especially on the Web. Facebook, Twitter and other social media will be used to pound you with updates (and, in some cases, the flood already has begun). More traditional online efforts--Web sites and e-mails--will flourish as well.
The next few months are the "spring training" days for candidates, the tune-up/muscle-up time. And Northwest Georgia will see a lot of these exhibition games in coming months. Already on the docket:
-On Tuesday, Rome Young Republicans meet at 6:30 p.m. at Opi's Waterfront to hear from Melvin Everson, a candidate for state labor commissioner.
-There's a private fund-raiser for U.S. Rep. Phil Gingrey and his wife, Billie, on July 25 at a Rome home with guests' suggested donations at $250.
-U.S. Rep. Nathan Deal, the late-entry candidate in the Republican primary for governor--and the top money-raiser to date--speaks to Bartow's Republican Party on Saturday, July 25 (click Bartow GOP)
-And perhaps the summer's biggest preview event is the Fifth Annual GOP Rally at the Tillman Hangar at Richard B. Russell Airport/Towers Field, set for 11 a.m.-1 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 1. Keynote speakers include Rep. Phil Gingrey and Sen. Johnny Isakson (both up for new terms in 2010). Also invited: All Republican candidates statewide running for office. All GOP gubernatorial candidates will be allowed to speak.
As with the Bartow GOP meeting, look for monthly party meetings to be filled with visits from statewide hopefuls.
And look for preseason reporting to continue. The AJC is focusing hard on John Oxendine and his contributions, especially those tied to State Mutual Insurance and Dee Yancey. Last week's piece on "Ox" returning those funds was overwritten and could have been covered in 10 paragraphs. Or was it a prologue for what's next?
Family affair: Sisters, brother-in-law embrace local non-profits, go to war over donors, volunteers while helping each other along the way
Carrie Edge and Jenn Chandler's parents 'raised us to be a family of service;'
Phillip Edge says he's grateful to be competing with his wife and sister-in-law
By Natalie Simms
Northwest Georgia has its share of rich family histories, each with a unique story of their impact on the community.
One of those families in Rome's non-profit sector is the husband and wife team of Phillip and Carrie Edge, along with Carrie's sister, Jenn Chandler. Each is leading one of Rome's many non-profit organizations all with a common goal to improve the lives of people they serve.
Phillip Edge is the newly appointed executive director of Cancer Navigators. His wife, Carrie, is the chief professional officer of the Northwest Georgia Boys & Girls Club. Carrie's sister, Jenn Chandler, is the executive director of the Exchange Club's Family Resource Center.
With all three leading strong organizations, they are truly in a unique setting as they all work for the same fund-raising dollars, community support and volunteers.
"We really joke a lot about competition," says Carrie. "My husband knows better because he has to live with me but my sister always teases me about poaching and staying away from her board members and various donors."
Carrie, right, is the most experienced member of the family with more than 12 years of service with the Boys and Girls Club. She has worked for clubs in Kentucky, Virginia and in Rome for the last seven years.
The clubs provide year-round programs for after-school care, holiday care and summer care for kids and teens, ages 6-18. Their programs focus on five core areas of arts; sports/fitness/recreation; health & life skills; education and career development; and character and leadership development.
'I was hooked'
"My first experience with them (Boys & Girls Club) was in college when I volunteered at their Christmas Party," Carrie says. "I was at a point in my life where I was searching for something meaningful. I really wanted to impact young people on a deeper level. I was blown away by the generosity of their donors and the impact they had on intercity kids… I was hooked."
After college, Carrie went to work part-time for the Boys & Girls Club in Kentucky and definitely found her "calling."
"I was working in a pretty rough neighborhood and was definitely out of my environment," she says. "But I knew that was what I wanted to do with the rest of my life."
Her career took off from there into a full-time position with a unit in Virginia and then later moving back to her hometown of Louisville, Ky. All the while, she and her husband were starting their family, and Phillip was beginning his career in training and leadership development for Sodexco of North America.
"I always wanted to go back to my high school alma mater and teach and coach football," says Phillip, right. "But one day my mentor called me and said he was looking for a training manager to provide services at the University of Louisville Hospital."
The lucrative salary beat out the desire to teach as Phillip began his new career. He was soon promoted to a national leadership development position and relocated to Atlanta.
"The only stipulation was that I had to be near the Atlanta airport because I would be traveling a lot," he says. "Carrie only wanted to work for the Boys and Girls Club and so she went out to look for a job and found an opportunity in Northwest Georgia."
They moved their family to Rome in 2002 and Carrie quickly began making a mark for herself. Nine months after starting as the area director for Cedartown, she was promoted to the marketing/development position for the region. Less than a year later, she served as the interim chief professional officer while her boss was deployed to Iraq for two years.
"During that time, I grew the organization and opened up clubs in Gordon and Murray counties," she says. "And, in May 2007, I was officially offered the chief professional officer position. Since that time, we opened the new South Rome Club and Teen Center. Since we opened the center in September 2008, we've grown by 67 percent."
With Carrie and her family in Rome, her younger sister, Jenn, wanted to be nearby.
Raised to be 'professional beggars'
"After I graduated college and went back to Louisville, I didn't like it," says Jenn, right. "I wanted to be near my sister and her kids. So I found a position with the Boys & Girls Club in Calhoun while my sister was in Cedartown. It was an excellent career opportunity."
Jenn was promoted to the area director position in Cedartown after Carrie was promoted to the marketing position. And when Carrie moved into the interim spot, she was her sister's boss briefly before Jenn moved on to work for the United Way.
"This is absolutely a calling because doing this type of work isn't always easy," Jenn says. "If you aren't dedicated and passionate about what you are doing, you will burn out. This isn't a 9-to-5 job, it is a very emotional job and you never leave work at work… it's always in your heart."
While working for the United Way, Jenn became a member of the Exchange Club of Rome. During a meeting in May 2008, Jenn heard a presentation by the Family Resource Center that really "lit a fire." The Family Resource Center provides services for families under stress or in crisis.
"I was later approached about the executive director position at the center," she says. "I thought about it and applied at the end of their search. I got the job and this is where I was meant to be."
Like Carrie, Jenn has only worked in the non-profit sector. It's something they say is genetic.
"My parents raised us to be a family of service," Jenn says. "If you had it, you gave it. It was instilled in us when we were very young… like it's in our DNA."
Carrie agrees. "My dad always said he sent us to school to be professional beggars. They are very proud of us for choosing positions where we can leave a legacy and an impact on our community."
With both Carrie and Jenn in Rome, their parents moved from Louisville to Silver Creek. They help take care of Phillip and Carrie's five children, which helps the Edges do what they do.
"My in-laws are a God send," Phillip says. "They are with my kids all the time and without them, we wouldn't be able to do what we do for our community. They are the backbone of what we do."
After travelling around the country for the past five years and missing out on a lot of family time, Phillip decided he needed to find a job closer to home. Then, last October, Cancer Navigators "popped onto the screen."
'We're all extremely competitive'
"It really is a good fit for my background," he says. "Even though I'm coming from the for-profit sector, that experience has really helped me here. People development is what I do and while the bigger charge is to always raise money, that's when I use those people skills in presentations."
Cancer Navigators works to help cancer patients through their cancer journey with nurse navigators, service navigators and education navigators. "Our goal is to bring everyone together to help the patient," he says.
And now that they are all working for non-profits based in Rome, the friendly family competition is growing.
"We're all extremely competitive…we don't want to tell our secrets," Phillip says. "We always joke about it between ourselves. The funny thing is we didn't ever think we all would be working for non-profits all in the same area when we're all not from Rome."
While they are competitors, they are still family and use that to benefit each other.
"We each have a huge responsibility that we enjoy and don't take lightly," Phillip says. "They (Carrie and Jenn) are a help. We bounce ideas off of each other and we can share resources. That's really cool because that's what family does."
Says Jenn: "We really look for ways to partner our organizations up. The Boys and Girls Club provides free services to our families and if we get any cancer referrals, we send them to Phillip. Our missions and donor bases are different and the community understands that."
They embrace Rome as a great place to live and raise their families, and they are proud to give something back.
"I have never worked in a community like Rome before," says Jenn. "Everyone is proud to be a Roman and proud to live in Georgia. They really take care of their own, so we all fit in well here."
For more information about their organizations, visit:
-Boys & Girls Club: www.bgcnwga.org
-Family Resource Center: www.exchangeclubfrc.org
-Cancer Navigators: www.cancernavigatorsga.org
'Show' & tell: Upgrades continue at Greater Rome's two movie houses, Rome Cinemas (pictured) and the Movies at Mount Berry Square. The cinemas' rehab is done while work on Mount Berry is scheduled for completion this fall. Also keep an eye for beer and wine sales at Rome Cinemas during special events (boxing, opera, etc.) pending approval of a pouring license> Rome Movies
>Rome Cinemas, Movies at Mount Berry, Carmike 12 gearing up for Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.
which premieres Wednesday (12:01 a.m. screening at Mount Berry)
Radio daze: More changes on your radio dial in these days after the launch of 93.5 FM LIFE on WSRM. Look for a new morning show on Rock 105.9 FM as "Rick & Bubba" exit to be replaced by .... well, listeners will be asked to pick the new slot. Also on the way: expanded high school football coverage. More details soon.
Save the date: The annual meeting of the Greater Rome Chamber of Commerce is on the calendar effective this week: Thursday, Jan. 28.
PEAKS & VALLEYS: The highs and lows of Northwest Georgia:
Peak to the community and the family of Seth Sharp
Photo by Joel Lieberman
For the third time in scant weeks, Northwest Georgians assembled along summer-hot highways to salute a fallen serviceman. Marine Lance Cpl. Seth Sharp was buried Saturday with full honors, and those tributes started when his casket arrived at Calhoun's airport on Thursday. Family, friends and strangers lined the airport and the path to North Pointe Church that day, and many returned for Friday's calling hours and Saturday's funeral.
Valley to the Atlanta Braves' management: 
Jeff Francoeur as a Met. Photo from Mets' Web site.
Word spread fast Friday afternoon of Jeff Francoeur's public execution by the Atlanta Braves. Diehard Rome Braves' fans--still grateful to Francoeur, Brian McCann and others for the 2003 South Atlantic League title--e-mailed, called and texted each other in disbelief and disgust. Sure, Francoeur's days appeared numbered. But to trade him to the archrival Mets for subpar Ryan Church, along with a few thousand dollars in cash? It doesn't get any lower than this. Dissatisfaction with a player is one thing but rubbing his face into the very public baseball diamond is another. It ranks right up there with the not-so-swift kick in the career delivered to Tom Glavine on the eve of his return to the team's starting lineup. The Atlanta Braves of 2009 are a team in need of new direction, new executives, a crash course in public relations and a soul. Yes, baseball is a business. But baseball also is about passion, about young boys learning to read box scores and watching ESPN Plays of the Day to see how Frenchy and B-Mac did last night. As Atlanta's bean counters ponder why attendance is down this season, perhaps they should think about the continuing series of gut punches delivered to the fans. What next: Charging Greg Maddux and family to attend Friday night's ceremony retiring his number? All we can say: foul ball.
Peak to author Paul Hemphill: 
Author Paul Hemphill in an image from his Web site.
Writes Keith Graham on the Web site Like the Dew: "Reading Paul was simply a privilege." Stress the word reading. In this modern-day media mirage where 140-character "Twits" and "five-lines-and-out" Web "stories" dominate, Hemphill was a welcome throwback. A gifted columnist and writer, he inspired a generation of today's more recognized newspaper, magazine and periodical scribes. Tribute after tribute show up among the Facebook entries of today's writers, all respectful, all still in awe of Paul's talents. And perhaps there is some irony in what appears today on Paul's own Web site: just a few words including, "Paul Hemphill (1936 - 2009)." That's a short story by Paul no one is anxious to read.
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